Jobs/Roles in the Early Childhood Community: National/Federal Level

The first website that I looked at the interested me was the NEA. The reason that I selected this particular organization is the fact that they are the voice of American educators. Their mission is to be the voice for educators while working together to make sure that children are getting the education that they need. They also feel that working together with parents, families and the community as well as working with other stakeholders is what is going to help with making sure that all children get the quality public education that they need in order to succeed in life. While there were no jobs posted on this site, I think the skills that are needed to work for this organization is the ability to be professional and have great collaboration and communication skills (National Education Association, 2015).

The second website that I found to be very interesting was one that I am not as familiar with. The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) is a grassroots organization that has educators, parents, advocates, service providers, etc. help make sure that children and youth that are not in stable living conditions still receive the education that they need. There are no job opportunities listed, but as far as skills needed it seems the ability to collaborate and communicate with all of the other groups is very important. The ways that people can get involved with this organization is by signing petitions or making a donation (National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), n.d.).

The third organization that I selected is Save the Children. This organization has an office in the United States and worldwide. They help children that have been victims of natural disasters in order to make sure that they get the support necessary. I did notice that there were job postings listed for either the headquarters, local US field offices and International field offices. The skills that they value in people that work for them is accountability, ambitious, respectful in their collaboration with others, creative and they have integrity (Save the Children, 2015). These values are listed under the section of the website that has common career questions.

References

National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY). (n.d.). Mission. Retrieved from http://www.naehcy.org/about-naehcy/mission

National Education Association (NEA). (2015). Vision, Mission, and Values. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/19583.htm

Save the Children. (2015). Our values. Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8631395/k.671F/Common_Career_Questions.htm

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

One of the places that I was looking at is Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP. This place appealed to me because of the fact that it works to help teach children and it also a place for children that are in low-income households. This would be a place that I would want to work for because it would give me a chance to work with children preparing them for school all the while also being able to collaborate with the families to help meet their needs as well. I chose this particular place because it is available in the school district in the town that I live in.

WAEYC: This is the state affiliate in Washington State for NAEYC. I chose this place because of what they do. The fact that they provide a lot of information and are very dedicated to helping the early childhood field. On the website there are two job openings that are currently posted. This is one organization that I would also be willing to work in.

The third is the Gates Foundation. Bill Gates and his wife have a foundation and have a desire in their hearts to help make sure that young children have opportunities to learn. This program appealed to me because of the fact that even though this couple has plenty of money at their disposal, they are using it for the good of helping people and this includes providing opportunities for education trying to help with breaking the cycle of poverty. This would be a good foundation to try and get a job in because it would be a great way to help with public policy and advocacy. The skills that I would need would be a passion to help children.

CAPSTONE

I would like to say that I am both excited about this class and a little scared. I am excited that this is the last class and that I have made it this far. The part that is a little bit scary is having to figure out when this class is done, what’s next. I am not sure what I will be doing after this class is done but one thing is for sure, it will be time to start my career. I look forward to working with all of my classmates on this step in the Master’s program and I look forward to getting to meet up with my classmates at graduation in the future.

Working on an issue that I get to choose where the sky is the limit is both going to be really awesome because it does not limit us but at the same time, it will be a really big challenge. The challenge will come with finding an issue to address in the early childhood field that is both narrow enough in scope but yet broad enough that it will provide enough resources and information in order to do the weekly assignments. I wish all of my classmates luck with working on their individual Capstone projects. I know that everyone will make a huge difference in the field more than they are right now.